Life in Perpetual Beta

I’ve had the desire to use Linux for years, I’ve pretty much bounced between Windows and Linux since Win95.  My geeky roots, love for Open Source, and the need for a challenge has driven me to reformat my computer and try once again to move my computer life to a Linux one.

However, the first time I know that I can do something so much easier in Windows, I run back to that comfortable environment.  I had a short dabble in OS X, but when I lost a job opportunity because I didn’t know enough Linux, I gave my PowerBook to my wife and tried again to immerse myself into the OS.   Only to go back to Windows when I couldn’t do what I wanted to do.

So, what’s my problem?  Why am I unsatisfied with Windows?  What is the deal with Linux?

……The first part of this post was a couple months ago.  To continue….

I haven’t stuck with Windows because I know the OS, there is no mystery for me.  Basically, I’m bored with it.

Linux is that new thing, the shiny unknown that taunts me with, “Windows is evil; it’s closed source.  Every time you launch Windows, a kitten dies.  Linux is open source, we are happy, shiny, and don’t judge.  We have everything you want from Windows, in a guilt-free package.”

However, Linux doesn’t offer everything for me.  Where Linux is free and open source, there is a lot of tweaking I need to do to make it an environment I would be comfortable to use.  I can be working on a project, and then notice something that I would want to modify, change, try to make it better that has nothing to do with the project.

I have that same feeling with Windows, but I can get there much faster.  There are plenty of utils that can make Windows look completely different.  I have found the ones I want in Windows (by the way, we are talking XP — Vista takes up too many resources)  and it is a comfortable environment.

Since I started this post, I have gone through 3 different distros and finally went back to Windows.  There is still a strong appeal to go back to Linux, but I literally did nothing but tweak Linux, I got nothing done.

It’s time to get stuff done.

If you have been listening to podcasts and podcast novels, J.C. Hutchins is a household name.  He is one of the premier authors, and one of my favorites.  He is one of the elite.

And obscenely creative.  I am in awe of his creativity.  I am glad there are people like J.C. around to show the rest of us there is always another way to do things.

J.C. has a new project coming out in June, Personal Effects: Dark Arts:

Set in a mental institution for hopeless dead-enders, Personal Effects: Dark Art chronicles the life of Zach Taylor, a young and optimistic art therapist. Gifted at his job, he uses his patients’ personal effects — the personal items cataloged during their admission to the hospital — to help decipher the secrets of their mental problems.

But Zach is soon obsessed and overwhelmed when a new patient is admitted to the facility: a man who is a suspected serial killer. But how can this man have killed a dozen people when he’s blind? And how does he know how Zach will behave … before Zach himself does?

PE:DA will pull you into the story while pulling the story into your life.  There is more than just a book here, you will receive items with the book that leads to clues, in an ARG format.  At least, that’s what I heard.  

On J.C.’s site, you can “Commit Yourself to The Brink.”  At this page, you can become one of Zach’s patients.  Fill out the form, stating your name, when you were brought to Brinkvale, and a sample of your artwork.  

Lastly, the first video promo for PE:DA is online. 

I thin this is going to be an exciting ride.  I loved J.C.’s 7th Son series, and I’m going to pick up a copy of Personal Effects:Dark Arts.  I’m not one for the horror/suspense genre, but I believe this will be pure genius, and something I will not miss.

After watching the promo above, listen to or download the promo below.  And don’t forget to commit yourself to The Brink.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.2MB)

I’m hoping so. 2008 was kind of a bust, except for a promotion at work. I had hopes for myself and they weren’t fulfilled.

I want to change that. I want 2009 to be the year I look back ans say, “This was the year I got focused I started the habits that shaped the remaining years of my life.”

Tall order, no? I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself. However, I feel I need to do this.

2008 was a banner year for a lot of the podcasters I listen to.  I was very happy for them, their hard work paid off, but honestly, I felt jealous.

I have noone to blame but myself.   I am going to make things happen, and not wait for some sign that it will work out.  I will make it work out.

Tomorrow, I will have the alpha release posted.  Next Friday will be the first episode.

I will make 2009 a year I will be proud of.

Last week I was in a training class for my day job.  Back in the end of April, I changed jobs in my company from being on the Help Desk to supporting just the applications in the company.  What is different about the job?  For starters, I don’t have to field calls for broken mice, or printers.  I don’t have to help users with Word or Excel issues.  And I certainly don’t have to deal with spyware or viruses.

I field the calls that are related to my company’s ,main application and the supporting applications.  There is more working in depth with the SQL databases and writing .Net applications if the need arises.

Over the summer, my company sent me to SQL class.  I’ve had experience with queries in my dealings with MySql for sites I have scripted, but I wanted to get an idea of what the differences were with Microsoft SQL.  Turns, out there was not much.  Stored procedures and views were things I haven’t dealt with, so that was helpful.  All in all, it was a week off to make sure I knew what I needed for work.

This class satisfied the C# .Net component — at least the introduction of it.  I’ve had a rather sorted past with programming languages.  In high school (oh so many years ago), I learned basic and pascal, and it fueled my desire to enter college as a Computer Science major instead of Culinary Arts.  Once I entered college, it was something entirely different for me.  I couldn’t grasp what came easily a few years ago.  I can’t even blame wild partying for the reason.  Maybe there wasn’t the guidance I needed.  I don’t know.  There were other failed attempts over the years, so much so that I have said in interviews that I’m not a programmer, I’m a support tech.

Now, for this job I need to dive into the programming aspect.  I like scripting in PHP, so maybe I can get the hang of programming.  C# shouldn’t be that difficult to grasp.

The class was remotely — I was in a small training room, not much bigger than a closet, just me a speaker phone and two computers.  The fun was that I was able to have the phone muted, make my own comments and think out loud for the concepts the intstructor was teaching.  I enjoyed the concept, and I will do that again.

The content of the class itself was ok.  It was a Microsoft based course, so it was rather focused on the gee-wiz factors of Visual Studio.  The instructor would stray away from the class book when she felt it was necessary and I think it made it better.

Next week, I’ll find out if any of what I learned will stick.  At the very least, I’ll know what Object Oriented Programming is and will be able to sort out code for troubleshooting.

I have completed the first week of 100 pushups. They changed the first week’s sets, and I used the changes for days 2 and 3.

The hardest thing I’m finding is sticking to the schedule. I had to restart twice because I missed sever days in a row. I didn’t feel like I could continue in the middle of the week. I decided that was bunk and finished the first week anyway.

I’m going to tackle week 2 when I can get it in line with my walking schedule.